Summer fish pie

It's not really summer yet but it seemed like an appropriate name for this dish. It's a deviation from our regular fish pie recipe which we make the usual way by poaching the fish and making a roux before adding the poaching liquor etc etc. We always use some smoked fish in our regular fish pie and although delicious it can be time consuming to make, and a bit too “heavy” in Spring/Summer.

So we decided to experiment with a more summery, all-in-one approach making it more acceptable for week night cooking. The result was a very tasty, but lighter fish pie … and mum, if you’re reading this, yes we did save you some!

Ingredients (serves 3-4):
1 large fillet of cod, cut into large chunks
1 pack of small prawns
1 tin of white crab meat (or equivalent quantity of fresh cooked crab meat if possible)
Approx 4-5 potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks
1 white onion, peeled and finely diced
A large handful of mushrooms, sliced
½ bag of spinach, roughly chopped
½ bunch of parsley, roughly chopped
1 cup of frozen petit pois
½ tub of crème fraiche
½ glass of white wine
A generous sprinkling of grated parmesan (or cheddar), we used quite a lot
Salt and pepper
Olive oil and butter

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees.
• Put a large pan of salted water on the hob to boil. Add the potato chunks and cook until completely tender. Mash in the usual way, adding milk/butter etc as you like.
• Meanwhile, fry the diced onion in a large non-stick frying pan until soft. Then add the sliced mushrooms and cook for a couple of minutes.
• Whilst you’re cooking the onions and mushrooms, get your fish pie dish ready. We use a square dish which is about 10cm deep. There’s no need to pre-cook the crab, prawns or peas so spread them evenly across the bottom of the dish.
• Once the mushrooms/onions are soft add the cod chunks and white wine into your frying pan and allow to simmer for a couple of minutes. Then add the crème fraiche, parsley and spinach and stir everything carefully, trying not to break the cod chunks up too much.
• Carefully spoon this mixture into your fish pie dish, on top of the peas, crab and prawns. You can stir everything again if you like but it’s not necessary.
• Sprinkle ½ of your grated parmesan on top of the fish and add a little black pepper.
• Add a layer of mashed potato to the top of the fish pie, using a fork to spread it out evenly.
• Sprinkle the remaining parmesan on top of the fish pie before baking in the oven for around 40 minutes